SSH access to VMware’s ESXi server is by disabled by default however there are many reasons where SSH might be required. VMware and System administrators often find the need to perform advanced administrative tasks that require SSH access to the ESXi host. For example, deleting or reloading a VM with an Invalid Status can only be performed via SSH.

In this article, we’ll show you how to enable SSH on your ESXi host with just a few simple steps. This task can be achieved via the ESXi Web GUI, vSphere Web GUI (vCenter) vSphere client or ESXi console. We’ll cover all three methods.

For those with a VMware vCenter environment, you can enable SSH for each ESXi host by selecting the host and then going to Manage > Settings > Security Profile > Edit. In the pop-up window, scroll down to SSH Server and tick it. Optionally enter the IP address or network(s) you require to have SSH access to the host:

Launch your vSphere client and log into your ESXi host. From vSphere, click on the ESXi host (1), then select the Configuration tab (2). From there, click on the Security Profile (3) under the Software section. Finally click on Properties:

On the pop-up window, select SSH and click on the Options button:

Select the required Startup Policy. Note that the ‘Start and stop with host’ option will permanently enable SSH. Next, click on the Start button under Service Commands to enable SSH immediately. When done, click on the OK button:

To disable the SSH service via vSphere, follow the same process as above and ensure you select the “Start and stop manually” Startup Policy option and click on the Stop button under the Service Commands section.

In this article we showed how to enable and disable the SSH service on a VMware ESXi host using the Web GUI, vSphere client and ESXi Console. We explained why the SSH service is sometimes required to be enabled and also noted the security risks in permanently enabling SSH.